Consumers Walking Away from Credit Card Debt

Arlington, VA, March 10, 2010--Consumers are increasingly walking way from credit card debt, according to a new report by CardHub.com.

Credit-card debt has been falling for 16 straight months but credit-card issuers are writing off as much as 90% of that reported drop, the report said.

U.S. banks charged off a record $83.3 billion in credit-card losses last year. That makes up the bulk of the $93.2 billion drop in outstanding credit-card debt that was reported by the Federal Reserve for 2009.

"The reduction in credit-card debt is not because consumers have found a bag of cash under their mattresses and are now paying down their debt," said Odysseas Papadimitriou, chief executive of CardHub.com.

There are some signs that the rate of late payments -- those 30 days past due -- is starting to slow. Bank of America, the largest U.S. lender, reported that 7.35% of accounts were past due in January, the lowest level in a year.


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